What is the point of 'Auto-Brightness'?

So I've had my NN3DSXL for almost a week now, and I've noticed that the screen randomly dims and gets dark sometimes. I was concerned that something might have been wrong with it, but then just as often the screen looked fine. Came to the realization that this Auto-Brightness option was causing it.

Really strange feature, not sure why it is on by default since it is more a hinderance than anything... But I'm wondering just what the feature is meant to do?

My thinking is that the 3DS must be trying to adjust its brightness based on the available light in the room. If that's the case, that's kind of cool. Anyway, if anyone else has this problem, this is likely what is causing it.

you answer your own question that way...for me it's like a light chameleon,but have difficulty in darkness adaptation.I don't use auto brightness all the time,instead I manually adjust the brightness to match the light condition in a room

Yeah, it adjusts based on available light there is in the room. It's a convenience feature so you don't get sore eyes if you forget to turn the brightness down when you're playing in the dark. Personally, I like it.

It doesn't really work. Just disable it. My friend thought there was something wrong with his as well, but it's just a crappy feature. I hope all the kids who owns one are able to find where to disable it..

For me personally.. no use at all. I really don't like Auto Brightness on any of my electronics.

@Litchie: I hope so, too! Aw well, at least I guess some people are getting use from it. Personally I can't see myself intentionally using this thing, lol.

@Ovirew: Nah, it's pointless. If you'd ever have to change brightness while gaming, it takes 2 seconds to do it manually.

It's because the new battery is still pretty much awful so they have the auto correct on to try to preserve battery life.

In reality all you're doing is getting inferior visuals a the expense of battery life.

Since games are a visual medium always set the brightness yourself, don't allow a really bad power save feature to ruin a gaming session.

@Jaysonguy: Aha, that makes a good deal of sense. Tbh I haven't found the battery life on the N3DSXL to be all that bad, but I guess they figure the more life you can get out of each charge the better.

It is nice during the day but at night it does have some problem get the brightness right so I disabled it and everything is fine to me.

A lot of cell phones do it too, one of the most common complaints about gaming on a cell phone is fixed when they turn off auto dimming.

I wish Nintendo would be a bit more straightforward with it like "Here, max life is this at optimum performance, if you so choose to reduce performance you can turn on this feature".

I think more people would have positive things to say about the games if they were playing them at optimum settings.